Defense Systems

Homeland Security begins aggressive cyber workforce expansion

Department of Homeland Security launched its 60-day workforce sprint with an aggressive campaign to hire 200 cyber personnel by July 1.

Defense Systems

DOD issues 5 'data decrees'

Deputy Defense Secretary Kathleen Hicks issued a memo detailing DOD's five "data decrees," establishing rules for creating and managing data as an enterprise resource and strategic asset.

Defense Systems

Pipeline ransomware attack renews infrastructure concerns

Senior administration officials say multiple government agencies are working to distribute information to industry about the ransomware attack that led to the shutdown of a key natural gas pipeline for the East Coast.

Defense Systems

Senate defense committee delays NDAA markup

Sen. Jack Reed (D-R.I.), chairman for the Senate Armed Services Committee, announced that the committee would delay marking up the 2022 National Defense Authorization Act due to "uncertainty" in White House budget delivery.

Defense Systems

Navy to update business systems for performance, reduced costs

Moving off legacy systems and into the cloud will support digital transformation efforts, Navy officials tell Congress.

Defense Systems

Lawmakers seek new probe into AWS JEDI collusion

Letters from Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) and Rep. Ken Buck (R-Colo.) to Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, Attorney General Merrick Garland and acting Defense Department Inspector General Sean O’Donnell asking for information, documents and, in the case of the Justice Department, a probe into possible anticompetitive behavior on the part of Amazon Web Services.

Defense Systems

Boosting student loan debt forgiveness could pay off for cyber recruiting

Almost all Defense Department personnel who have sought student loan debt forgiveness have been denied -- a trend that, if unchanged, could make it even harder to recruit and retain tech talent.

Defense Systems

Better acquisition data would improve DOD oversight

While better data would help the Defense Department more effectively assess investments and risks over time, according to a watchdog official, several challenges exist.

Defense Systems

DHS, White House turn spotlight on ransomware

The Department of Homeland Security and the White House are putting the spotlight on combatting ransomware, actively developing plans to confront the issue.

Defense Systems

Court will hear JEDI political interference case against Trump

A complaint of political inference by former President Donald Trump in the Defense Department’s award of the Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure cloud computing contract to Microsoft in 2019 may now proceed.

Defense Systems

DOD expands bug bounty program to public networks, systems

The vulnerability disclosure program, which was started from the Defense Digital Service's 2016 Hack the Pentagon initiative, was initially restricted to public-facing websites and applications.

Defense Systems

E-sports gaming platforms take off in Air Force

With more than 80% of Airmen ages 18 to 35 identifying as gamers, the Air Force developed a scalable framework and unified competition structure for players.

Defense Systems

Prepare for the next Sunburst by protecting controlled unclassified information

Protecting the supply chain and CUI will only become more challenging as the number of defense contractors and the amount of data they house continues to increase.

Defense Systems

Biden picks former Army acquisition exec for DOD's top tech job

The White House announced it would nominate Heidi Shyu, former assistant secretary of the Army for Acquisition, Logistics and Technology, to be DOD's undersecretary for research and engineering.

Defense Systems

Pentagon readies new policy to boost cyber workforce

The Defense Department is developing a new policy series aimed at improving the cyber workforce, but it has substantial work to do to recruit the talent needed in the future.

Defense Systems

Space Command moves for tighter cyber integration

U.S. Space Command is standing up a dedicated joint cyber center to improve integration with U.S. Cyber Command.

Defense Systems

HASC chair calls for new incentives to reduce defense costs

Divesting of legacy systems to make way for new technologies is expensive and at the heart of the Defense Department's budget debate. But could new incentives for contractors make a difference?

Defense Systems

Consortium OTAs suffer from lack of guidance, data, IG finds

The Defense Department's internal watchdog found a lack of data on other transaction awards made through consortiums.

Defense Systems

Sunsetting CVR but keeping the collaboration

Commercial Virtual Remote, spun up last year to support pandemic telework, goes away this summer. DISA's Global Directory is the key to ensuring the cloud collaboration continues.

Defense Systems

A single platform for the Fourth Estate

2021 is a big year for DISA as it begins moving all DOD components to a single services network.